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When Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia announced this week that he would soon allow restaurants, barbershops and other businesses to reopen, the Republican governor’s plan seemed in tune with a president who had openly encouraged protesters of social distancing restrictions. And the president did seem pleased. On Tuesday night, Vice President Mike Pence and President Trump, in separate phone calls, each expressed his support for the governor’s coronavirus response, said an official familiar with the calls who was unauthorized to speak about the matter. (Fausset and Rojas, 4/23)

Trump has issued contradictory advice to Americans and contradictory or inchoate directives to governors, mayors, Congress and the scientists who flank him at daily news briefings intended to showcase his leadership. Much of the confusion surrounds when and how to lift safety restrictions that have closed businesses, schools, parks and casinos as a means of slowing transmission of a virus that has killed nearly 50,000 Americans. On Thursday, the day before barbershops, nail salons and other businesses were to reopen in Georgia over Trump’s objection and against the advice of the task force he empowered to guide the national response, Trump spoke glowingly about states that are reopening. (Gearan, 4/23)

Georgia Rep. Doug Collins is haranguing the state’s governor, Brian Kemp, for pushing to reopen the economy too early. But the feud between Collins and Kemp is only a glimpse of the larger behind-the-scenes battle within the GOP over how far to go when it comes to getting back to some semblance of normalcy. (Levine and Forgey, 4/23)

Announcing plans to begin reopening his state, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster cited the ongoing economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic. “South Carolina’s business is business,” he declared this week as he lifted restrictions on department stores, florists, music shops and some other businesses that previously had been deemed nonessential. (Kinnard, 4/24)

The brewing culture war over when to reopen the nation’s economy arrived Thursday on Capitol Hill, where Republicans, defying the advice of public health experts, forced lawmakers back to the House chamber to pass legislation that was virtually unopposed. The Republicans’ longing to return to business-as-usual mirrors that coming from President Trump, who is increasingly eager to lift the lifestyle restrictions designed to contain the spread of the deadly pandemic. GOP leaders argued this week that lawmakers should show up to Washington in solidarity with the medical workers, truck drivers, grocery clerks and other service-sector employees deemed essential during the coronavirus crisis. (Marcos and Lillis, 4/23)

With legions out of work, Republicans across the critical battleground states are trying to lay blame for the economic wreckage of the coronavirus outbreak on Democratic governors, ramping up a political strategy that is likely to shape the debate in the run-up to the presidential election. In Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — all three swing states with Democrats in charge — state Republican lawmakers, after an initial detente, have grown fiercely critical of the stay-at-home orders or business shutdowns imposed by governors to limit the spread of the coronavirus, casting them as the work of overzealous, nanny-state Democrats. (Levy, 4/24)